Box Score MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran baseball team hosted MLC for the series finale on Tuesday afternoon and claimed the season sweep with a 16-2 victory in seven innings. With the win the Vikings improve to 15-8 overall and 11-3 in the UMAC.

RJ Brothen got the start on the bump in the matchup, working around a hit by pitch in the top of the first inning to bring the Vikings to the plate. Bethany would use three hit batsmen and four hits, including a Brad Bickmann triple to plate five runs in the bottom half. 

Following a 1-2-3 top of the second from Brothen the Vikings would get things going again as Eli Fest singled and stole second base before Liam Peterson would drive him in with a base knock. Peterson then stole second and third base before Bickman singled to give Bethany a 7-0 lead after two innings. 

After a pair of strikeouts from Brothen started the third, the Knights would rattle off three straight singles to plate a run, but Reed Brown would throw out a runner attempting to advance to third on the final hit to end the threat. The bottom half of the inning began with a Will Carlson single, followed by three straight free passes to plate Carlson. Brown would then double to bring home a pair of runs and put two runners in scoring position before a wild pitch would allow another run to cross. Garrett Hoffman would then bring in Brown with a single to give Bethany their fifth run of the inning and a 12-1 lead after four. 

The Knights would plate a run in the top of the fifth to bring the score to 12-2 but Bethany would answer with two more in the bottom half. JT Garcia would knock an RBI single early in the inning before Xavier Palmer recorded his first collegiate hit and RBI to plate Garcia. Bethany would bring two more across in the bottom half of the sixth thanks to run-scoring at-bats from Izaak Stevens and Lucas Reiff with Austin Haus and Riley Nelson each tossing a scoreless inning in relief to seal the win.

Carlson, Brown, Bickmann, Hoffman, and Garcia each had two hits to lead the 18-hit attack with Bickmann driving in three runs and Carlson scoring three times. Brothen, Trent Herrboldt, Haus, and Nelson combined for the seven innings on the hill, striking out eight and allowing six hits in the win.